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New Year’s Fishing Roars In- Banana River- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

January 9, 2012 by · 1 Comment

The Orlando Area-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 1.8.12

The new year brought a blast of cold air with it.

Tuesday the wind blew about 25 miles an hour. The high was in the 50s. The temperature Tuesday night got close to freezing.

Wednesday morning, in the most relaxed way, I put one of the kayaks on the roof and drove to River Breeze to paddle fish the Mosquito Lagoon. It was still only in the 50s when I got there about 11 AM.

Last time I paddle fished I whined about the water being too high and too dirty. Someone pulled the plug, because the water was all gone. I had to walk a good part of the way to my intended fishing spot.

Ha-ha. There was no water there. Literally. The parts of the pond that still had water were only a few inches deep. I found nine seatrout in the 5-7 pound range floating, dead.
Quite sad.

I found a small, deep (three feet or so) hole in an otherwise shallow canal. Redfish were stacked up in there. I didn’t count but I was well into double digits before I took pity on them and stopped. Most were small but half a dozen or so were in the slot. The fly was a brown redfish worm. I think an acorn would have worked.

I wanted to check other spots but couldn’t go anyplace else. There wasn’t enough water to float the kayak. I walked it most of the way back and loaded it up around 4:30.

Thursday morning there was frost everywhere. Chris Myers and I took the Reflection 17 to the no motor area of the Banana River Lagoon. It is amazing how fast that water cleared up once the cold weather finally got here.

The day was cool, chilly, a tad breezy, but sunny and spectacular!

The fishing was ridiculous. We both caught redfish, black drum, and seatrout all day long, mostly on a black redfish worm. The trout averaged about 20 inches long, solid fish all. Chris got a couple reds on a green crab pattern.

Chris Myers got the nicest trout of the day.

Most of the trout we got were like this or a little bigger.

We threw at some big reds but the biggest we got, and Chris got all three, were about 32 inches. Chris complained that the “little” 32 inch reds beat the big ones to the fly. I like days where that’s the biggest problem. They are much too rare.

Capt. Chris got three reds like this, as well as several smaller ones. And a black drum!

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I were at Haulover Canal at the relatively brisk time of 8:30 AM. The day was perfect, magnificent. There were no clouds, hardly any wind. The temperature rose into the low 70s.

There should have been fish everywhere.

We went as far north as JBs Fish Camp. Anyone who fishes the Mosquito Lagoon will tell you that’s a fair ride. We maybe saw two dozen fish all day.

George had one bite, a trout, on a DOA Shrimp. As luck goes, the fish came off. Several other guides went fishless too, so I know it waren’t just me!

Back in the day I would have been upset. Now I wonder why they weren’t there, and appreciate the day for the finest example of Florida weather.

We were off the water before 4 PM.

On Saturday Iowa City fly fisher Mark Hale joined me for some fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was spectacular. After the beatdown of the previous day I had some concern about our chances of success. And the first three places I looked held nothing.

Then I got lucky, and found a school of about 150 fish.

Mark had never caught a redfish before but he crushed the jinx by nailing five to 25 inches, using a rootbeer colored redfish worm. We were two happy boys.

Mark Hale got his first, second, third, etc redfish on Saturday, courtesy of the Mosquito Lagoon.

Sunday Jonathan Evans, a fly fisher from Virginia, joined me for some fly fishing on Mosquito Lagoon. Again, the weather was spectacular.

We saw a few fish in the first spot- no bite. We saw a few fish in the second spot- no bite. The third spot had quite a few redfish, and we had shots at at least a dozen tailing fish. No bite. We got pushed off that spot by some yahoos. The fourth spot was barren.

Somewhere in there Jonathan caught a ten inch seatrout on a blind cast. It would turn out to be the only fish boated.

The next spot had some big (20 pound class) reds in deep, dirty water. We’d get a glimse and Jonathan would fire a cast. This happened a dozen times at least- no bite.

The last spot had the most fish of anywhere we’d been. We spent an hour there. Jonathan had one bite but the hook didn’t stick. Finally it was three o’clock and time to roll out. I hated to leave without the elusive fish but we’d had dozens of shots, changed flies a half dozen times, and still hadn’t had any success.

Some days it just don’t work.

Life is great and I love my work.

I keep saying it- life is short. Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2012. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon, Florida Fly Fishing Tip: Little Black Flies

December 16, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Redfish Worm, top; Clouser Minnow, bottom. Both are simple, effective flies for sight fishing redfish and black drum.

You need two flavors of little black flies for use for reds and black drum in the Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River Lagoon system. They’re small (#4), and lightly weighted (1/80th ounce lead dumbbells).

One is a simple black Clouser Minnow. The wing is simply black bucktail, and some sparse flash. I usually use Flashabou Accent on these smaller sized flies, sometimes gold, sometimes copper, but if Fire Fly in purple comes to hand I use that. I haven’t noticed much discrimination on the part of the fish in regards to the color of the flash.

The other fly I call a Redfish Worm. It has the 1/80th ounce lead eye, a tail of either a short piece of zonker strip or Arctic Fox tail dyed black, and a body of large black Cactus Chenille (or similar product). That’s it. It’s simple, but looks good when wet.

Both flies are tied with a double mono prong weedguard, and both are simple, five minute ties even with the ‘guard. There’s no sense complicating one’s life needlessly.

Of course the way they’re fished is as important as anything else. Use them when shallow water (less than 12 inches) fishing in the Indian River Lagoon or the Mosquito Lagoon, from a kayak or while wading, looking for redfish and black drum. The reds will almost always be slot fish, since you’re in less than a foot of water. Most of the fish I see while doing this are singles, and I seldom see more than four or five together.

Once I see the fish, I want to be close enough that after I cast I know, make that KNOW, exactly where the fly is in relation to the fish. That means I am close enough to them to see everything. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized.

Reds and blacks require somewhat different presentations. Reds tend to be both more aggressive in their approach to a fly and more spooky than blacks.

For the reds try to anticipate where the fish will go and put the fly there, about two to three feet in front of it. That fly sits in that spot until the fish is either close enough to see it when it’s twitched, or until it’s obvious that the fish is not going where you hoped it was. If the fish sees the fly most of the time they’ll crush it, but sometimes they ignore it or spook off. If the fish doesn’t go where you thought they would, or if the cast misses, or if the time is available, try again. Keep trying until the fish eats, spooks, or is out of range.

For the blacks try to drop the fly mere inches in front of them to attract their attention right away, or place it such that you can drag it right into or by their face. Blacks tend to be pretty myopic, and very lackadaisical in their approach to a fly. The fly has no olfactory stimulus for them, so the visual stimulus needs to be real strong. Even then many times they ignore it or spook from it. But if you get enough shots you will find plenty of takers.

Could you have success with other flies in these types of situations? Probably. But if the sexy, simple, little black flies are working, why would you want to use anything else?

I hope you found this Mosquito Lagoon Florida fishing tip useful!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Fantastic! Orlando Fishing

December 12, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

Orlando! Most folks equate a trip to central Florida with Mickey Mouse and Shamu. These attractions and quite a few others make Orlando one of the world’s foremost tourist destinations.

There’s fantastic fishing around Orlando. Central Florida’s coastal areas supply some of the finest saltwater fishing Florida has to offer, and many of the area’s lakes and rivers supply world-class bass fishing. While the kids frolic with Goofy and Donald Duck, Dad can be hooked up with anything from a five pound largemouth to a 150 pound tarpon. Brief descriptions of the various options available to the visiting angler follow.

GREATER ORLANDO FISHING OPPORTUNITIES

Disney World itself is in the bass fishing business. Guided bass fishing trips are available on Disney’s Bay Lakes at by-the-hour rates. Angling pressure is light, and the action is generally fast with many sizable bass caught. Dave Burkhardt fishes here regularly. He told me it’s the only place you’ll ever catch bass that have these funny little mouse ears!

One of the best kept bass fishing secrets near Orlando is the Clermont chain of lakes. Twelve lakes connected by canals are so clean that they’ve been designated an outstanding Florida waterway supply plenty of room to fish and explore. In addition to the bass, bream and crappie are available. The scenery and wildlife are both wonderful, and are well worth the trip.

orlando fishing, orlando bass fishing

Bass like this one are common catches around Orlando.

East and West Lake Toho are well known for their fishing. Kissimmee sits right on West Lake.

The St. John’s River and its tributaries offer wonderful areas to fish. The river basin covers a lot of area to the east of Orlando. Largemouth bass provide a dependable year-round fishery, and there are all types of fish holding structure. There are several species of sunfish, locally called “brim.” During the winter, crappie supply plenty of action.

During January, February, and March light tackle fishing for shad is a very popular sport on the St. John’s River in the Sanford area.

FLORIDA WEST COAST FISHING
During May and June fly fishermen pay congregate at Homosassa, sightfishing  the crystalline waters for the greatest flyrod gamefish known to the inshore angler- the mighty tarpon. A few years back one of them caught the Big Mamoo, a 200 pound monster. Other fishermen want to duplicate the feat.

Orlando fishing, orlando tarpon fishing

Tarpon like this are available all along the Gulf Coast. Homosassa offers the biggest.

Homosassa has other fishing available. Redfish, seatrout, Spanish mackerel, cobia, and more are all available, some species year-round.

Homosassa lies to the west of Orlando. From Orlando driving time is about two hours.

FLORIDA EAST COAST FISHING
Central Florida’s east coast is where the visiting angler can really find him or herself some quality saltwater angling, often without the services of a guide. Sebastian Inlet State Park is regarded by many as the premier snook hole in the entire country. Jetty fishermen fling all types of lures as well as live bait to catch the linesiders, which often exceed twenty pounds.

Redfish, bluefish, tarpon, flounder, and seatrout are other species taken from the jetties, the adjacent beaches, or the flats on the Indian River Lagoon side of the inlet, where waders can have a blast, too. Sebastian Inlet is about an hour and a half’s drive from Orlando.

Those who like to surf fish can find beach access and some excellent fishing in the vicinity of Sebastian Inlet. Closer to Orlando both Satellite Beach and Playalinda Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore offer outstanding angling for the beach angler. Redfish, pompano, flounder, bluefish, and whiting are most often caught from Playalinda’s twenty plus miles of undeveloped, pristine beach. At Satellite Beach, snook, pompano, sheepshead, whiting, and sometimes Spanish mackerel and tarpon are all caught in the surf. Since these are public beaches, early in the morning on weekdays will  supply the least interference from surfers, bikinis, and other distractions.

Those wanting offshore fishing can find it at Port Canaveral or Ponce Inlet. Charter boats from the Port fish nearshore for kingfish, cobia, tripletail, and tarpon, while those venturing further out find action from dolphin, wahoo, sailfish, and even marlin. The same type of action is available from Ponce Inlet. Also, at both locations bottom fishing for grouper and snapper is available from either charter or partyboats. Finally, both the Port and Ponce Inlet have long rock jetties which attract all of the typical inshore fishes, and the fishermen who chase them.

My favorite area to fish is in the Indian River Lagoon System. The Lagoon, over 150 miles long, stretches from Ponce Inlet down to St. Lucie Inlet. The System’s three main components are the Mosquito Lagoon, the Indian RiverLagoon, and the Banana River Lagoon, which are separated from the waters of the Atlantic by a thin strip of sandy coastal barrier.

One unique thing about fishing in this system- unless you are near an inlet, tides have almost no effect on the fishing. There is no tidal water movement. You just go fishing!

There are many areas around Titusville for wading anglers to get access to some beautiful grassflats covered with crystal clear water and some excellent sightfishing for redfish which average up to ten pounds. Most of these are either in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge or the Canaveral National Seashore.

orlando redfish, orlando redfish trips, wading for redfish

Wading in the Mosquito Lagoon produced this redfish.

Dike roads in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge open up miles of wadable flats to the visiting angler. It’s entirely possible to fish both the beach and the Mosquito Lagoon in the same day. Information about the location of these dike roads is available from the Refuge headquarters, located on SR 402 east of Titusville.

In both Titusville and Cocoa you can rent kayaks and go paddle fishing on any of the three lagoons. And plenty of fishing guides offer their services here too.

Driving time to most east coast fishing areas is about an hour.

Why doesn’t Orlando have a reputation as a fishing destination? World class fishing awaits. The next time your family coerces you into visiting Disney World, bring your tackle and check it out. You will be most pleasantly surprised at Orlando’s fantastic fishing.

John Kumiski

Home- Spotted Tail Outdoors and Travel

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Indian River Lagoon Water Slowly Clearing- Indian River Lagoon Fishing Report

December 10, 2011 by ·

The Report from Spotted Tail 12/11/11

The Mailbox-

-Got this email from Rick Roberts: “This University of Florida Fisheries Management Grad Student Project is gathering information with the goal of developing new strategies for the management of of the Florida Gulf Coast snook fishery. Your participation in the following survey is requested. Here’s the chance to take part in the future of fisheries management click this link to answer these important questions.”
http://www.snookfoundation.org/news/research/492-ufl-students-developing-snook-vision-.html

-Mike Adamson sent this email in response to last week’s report: “I usually take my first NMZ trip just after Thanksgiving and usually with great anticipation. On Friday I went all the way to Buck Creek in 15 mph out of the N on Friday. Traveled up on the middle of the outer bar and back along the shoreline. This was a great paddle in bad water.
“Much like your exploration, the water had about 6” visibility and the fish were scarce. Almost no bait except for one spot N of the bent tower on the outer bar. Spooked 3 fish all day. No tails or fins.”

When it comes to fishing misery loves company.

Thursday night Mosquito Creek Outdoors hosted a Crappie and Shad fishing seminar. The information exchange was phenomenal. A website called www.crappie.com has most of the information you need if you’re interested in catching specks.
The captain’s meeting for the annual shad and crappie derby is at MCO this upcoming Thursday night (December15). There will be refreshments and prizes. Hope to see you there.

Dr. George got this nice redfish in the Indian River Lagoon.

Most of my week was spent moving my website to a new server. Only on Friday did I manage to get out, accompanied by Dr. George Yarko. Tom Van Horn gave me an Indian River Lagoon tip, which I wanted to check.

It was a beautiful day, with a light wind out of the east. The water is still dirty, but less so than it was. Hopefully as water temperatures drop the water will continue to clear.

We did not find any 40 pound redfish, but fish to 30 inches were prowling near the shoreline. We got five or six, all on chunks of ladyfish. I cleaned one. It had a small fish, either a small mullet or large mud minnow, in its stomach.

He followed up the first redfish with this nice pair.

I also got a decent trout, about 20 inches long, using a DOA Deadly Combo.

While I hope to get out more this week coming, there is much more website work to do.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Florida Fishing Tip: Fluorocarbon versus Nylon Monofilament Fishing Leaders- Which Works Better?

December 6, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

In a side-by-side taste test, fish preferred fluoro to nylon at least four-to-one.

This week’s Florida fishing tip is about leader material.

Fluorocarbon leader material hit the market about 15 years ago. Frankly I thought it was a scam. Looks just like nylon monofilament leader. Costs 10 times more. Couldn’t be worth the price difference. Or so I thought.

Through my writing some fluorocarbon leader material found its free sample way into my hands. My friend Rick DePaiva and I guided for false albacore in North Carolina that fall, out of Capt. Joe Shute’s Bait and Tackle in Atlantic Beach. We’d sometimes use frozen glass minnows to chum the tunny up around the boat. I got the idea to do some testing.

When I had two anglers in the boat I would rig one with a 12 pound nylon leader material tippet. I’d rig the other with a 12 pound fluorocarbon leader material tippet. They’d both be using the same fly pattern.

The fluoro guy would outfish the nylon guy four or five to one.

I would switch the nylon guy’s tippet to a fluoro tippet. The strikes would immediately even out.

I conducted this side-by-side test five or six times and got the same results each time. At that point the experiment ended. It was obvious that although the fluoro and nylon looked the same to me, it was clearly different to the fishies.

I’ve used fluorocarbon for my leader material, both fly and spin, ever since.

I’ve tried various brands. Some are terrible. My current favorites are Seaguar and TripleFish. I carry leader wheels in pound test ranging from 10 pound to 80 pound, which pretty much covers any situation in which I may find myself in saltwater.

All the knots are pretty much the same. Fluoro is a little stiffer, and I think more abrasion resistant than nylon.

If you’re using nylon and think you should be getting more strikes, give fluorocarbon a try. I hope you found this Florida fishing tip useful!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Frontal Assault- How to Deal with Winter Cold Fronts

December 4, 2011 by ·
spotted seatrout, speckled trout, seatrout

When you get a winter day with weather like this, fishing should be speck-tacular.

The wind blows from the south under a gray sky. A squall line approaches from the north. That south wind dies. It’s eerily calm. Suddenly a frigid blast comes from the north. Rain lashes, whitecaps crash, the temperature drops 20 degrees in seconds. A common winter phenomenon, a cold front has just passed through.

How does the passing of a cold front affect the flats fisherman?

Unlike you, fish are cold blooded. A fish’s body temperature hovers within a degree or two of their surroundings. Redfish prefer 70 degree water. Spotted seatrout like it between 70 and 75 degrees.

As temperatures get below that their metabolic processes slow. They need less food. Get near the extremes of their tolerance and they become lethargic. Another degree or two colder and they die. We saw this demonstrated two winters ago during that extended cold snap. Dead fish were everyplace.

During the winter months, water temperatures in our local lagoons rarely get as warm as the fish prefer. Our finned friends seek water temperatures as close to their preferred range as they can find. Since shallow water warms (and cools) more quickly than does deep water, when conditions are right the shallows will be full of fish.

Right after a cold front passes the conditions are not right.

The passage of the front causes the air temperature to drop, which in turn lowers the water temperature. This drop in water temperature is exacerbated by a strong northwest wind, often at 20 to 25 miles per hour with higher gusts. An interested observer can stand on the bank at the north end of the lagoon system and over the course of several hours literally watch the water level drop as the wind blows the water to the south.

Fishing the flats during these conditions is a complete waste of time. The fish have moved to thermal refuges where their bodies can better adjust to the falling water temperatures. In the deeper water the temperature will still drop, but it occurs more gradually. This causes less shock to the fish.

These thermal refuges include canals, dredge holes, power plant outflows, and perhaps the Intracoastal Waterway channel. Just the mass of water in these types of places supplies some insulation and moderates the temperatures. If you find a concentration of fish in this situation fishing can be ridiculously easy.

The fish don’t find much in the way of groceries in these types of places, though. The groceries are up on the flats. This brings us back to a statement made above: when conditions are right the shallows will be full of fish…

To read the rest of this article, please visit this link.

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Mosquito Lagoon Redfishing Consistent This Week- Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 25, 2011 by ·

The Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/26/11

The week was solid, if unspectacular.

Monday morning found me launching my kayak at River Breeze, none too early I might add. At the boat ramp the water looked too deep for successful kayak fishing as practiced by me.

At a spot where I seldom see fish I heard one crash along the bank. I had shots at three of the six redfish I saw there, getting the third on a #4 Estaz Crab. Getting out of the boat so I could see exactly what was going on was the key here.

I paddled quite a few miles, searching shorelines. The water was too deep and there were intermittent clouds all day. It was hard to see. I ran over a few, and found a few working the shoreline. Of these shoreline fish I had a shot at one, and again the Estaz Crab turned the trick. I like that fly.

Tuesday sons Maxx and Alex joined me, again launching at River Breeze, although we used the Mitzi this time. We were on a simultaneous scouting and meat fishing mission. We needed a fish for Thanksgiving dinner. The first place we looked, which had been full of fish just a few days earlier, had none. We moved.

The second place we looked, which had been full of fish a week earlier, had only one as far as we could tell. Maxx spotted it and dropped a DOA Shrimp (clear with gold glitter) right in its face. The fish obliged, unfortunately for him. One mission accomplished.

The DOA Shrimp works wonderfully well for sight fishing for redfish.

We checked another spot. The fish were lying in white holes, and in spite of casting over the holes with the DOA and a Johnson Minnow we kept running them over and blowing them out. They were there but we didn’t get one.

At another spot we found six separate, single redfish cruising along the bank. Alex got fish number four to take the spoon.

At this point, well into the afternoon and with both missions accomplished, we headed back to the boat ramp.

The redfish had the well digested remains of a crab in its stomach, nothing else.

Wednesday Dennis and Charlie Knight, father and son, and Seth Spielman, in-law, joined me for a day’s redfishing on Mosquito Lagoon. All three of these fine gentlemen were Ph.D.s, something I had never had happen on my boat before. We had an interesting day conversationally!

There was some wind but it was manageable. We had solid clouds all day long. Sight fishing was impossible except for the solitary tailing fish we found late in the afternoon, a fish we did not catch.

They rotated among two spin rods, tossing Johnson Minnows (one gold, one silver) all day long. In doing so they managed to get one dink trout, the ice breaker, and six fat slot reds. They released all but number six.

Seth convinced this redfish to strike a Johnson Minnow.

They took it home entire, so I do not know what it had been eating.

Thursday close to forty guests visited Casa Kumiski. All of us ate too much. It was delicious, and wonderful. One of the things I’m thankful for is Thanksgiving!

On a windy Friday morning Bob from St. Louis and his two sons Ben and Erin joined me for some Mosquito Lagoon fishin’. Kids on board, any fish will do!

The first chunking spot quickly produced a small flounder and a slot red. The kids were excited! It was the biggest fish they had ever seen!

These boys had never seen a fish this big before. It's as big as they get that size!

The bite stopped so we went and tossed the DOA Deadly combo for trout for a while. We only got one bite, but it was a solid fish, about 20 inches. Trout season is closed, so fishie was released.

Ben used a DOA Deadly Combo to fool this nice trout.

Further mullet chunking didn’t produce a lot. We got another small red, a hardhead catfish, and missed a couple of bites. We were having fun though. Before you knew it we were out of time. On the way in we watched some dolphins and manatees.

When I cleaned the redfish its stomach held six small mud minnows.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Kayak Redfishing Again This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 20, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/20/11

I’m smoking some salmon as I write this. Good eating, coming right up!

Best wishes to everyone for a blessed Thanksgiving. Try making a list of all you’re thankful for. My own short list would be my wife, my boys, my health, my friends, the fact I was born American, and the wonderful way I get to earn such living as I make. Life is indeed  great!

The lagoon water level gauge dropped as low as 0.4 this past week, although it’s going up again. A significant event (to me) occurred this week- I got my first redfish from the kayak since coming back from Alaska.

I wrote last week, “Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down… there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.”

I was back to that spot on Thursday. The water, although still dark in places, was cleaner, lower, and dropping. The wind was out of the west but fairly mild. But it was still overcast, as a front was moving in.

There was a flowing culvert with fish blowing up around it. Using a Mosquito Lagoon Special I got a slot red and a nice trout. Then I threw the fly into a tree and lost it.
I switched to a redfish worm and got another slot red, missing yet another. I changed flies hoping to entice the missed fish into another mistake, but no dice.

Getting back into the kayak I went looking for fish. One tailed a short distance ahead of me. I stopped and waited for it to show itself again.

The tiny ripples the tips of its fins made on the surface were barely visible. When it took the Estaz crab the leader was in the tip of the rod. Yahoo! A fish from the kayak, again! It felt good, I’ll tell you. The paddle season is officially here.

Break out the kayaks! Paddle season is officially here.

Friday Dr. George Yarko and I launched at River Breeze. The wind was howling out of the northeast at 20-25. The cold front had come through, dropping the water level about six inches and the water temperature almost four degrees. I reasoned that the fish would have dropped into holes and sloughs. We fished five spots, just chunking mullet. In one spot we got two out-of-the-slot reds, and one 24 inch fish. In the rest of the spots we got nothing.

When I cleaned that 24 inch fish it had the remains of a small fish, probably a pinfish, in its stomach.

Yesterday and today are honey-do days as we prepare for our guests on Thursday. And I have to monitor the smoker, so, see ya! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Ten Favorite Redfish Flies

November 15, 2011 by ·

If you were dropped off anywhere in redfish range, carrying a selection of the 10 fly patterns listed below, you could catch redfish if you could locate them. These are my ten favorite redfish flies.

“Imitator” Flies
These roughly resemble stuff fish actually eat.

A Clouser Minnow selection.

1. The Clouser Deep Minnow. Since redfish often prefer to feed down on the bottom it’s an excellent fly for them. You’ll need a variety of different colors. If you think in terms of light, dark, neutral, and contrasting colors you’ll be fine.

You need a variety of sizes and weights. At the small end a size 4 (I’m thinking about going to #6 this winter) with bead chain or micro lead eyes is good. At the large end a size 1/0 with 1/36th ounce lead eyes will sink like an anvil for those rare occasions when you need a fairly large, fast sinking fly.

Some of your flies must have weedguards. My own preference these days is for a double mono prong.

A bendback made with bucktail on top, and with synthetics below. Both work.

2. Bendbacks. When the water is only a few inches deep, and the fish are behaving like a zebra around a pride of hungry lions, you need something that hits the water delicately. Enter the bendback.

A variety of sizes and colors is needed. I carry bendbacks as small as number 4 and as large as 3/0 (we get big reds where I fish). These are excellent patterns to wing with synthetics.

Do not to bend the hook shank too much, a common error when making these flies. The shank should only be bent five degrees or so.

From top to bottom, a Deceiver, Electric Sushi, and a Polar Fiber Minnow.

3. “Minnow” patterns from natural or synthetic fibers. The best known natural fiber minnow is Lefty’s Deceiver, although Joe Brooks’s Blonde series works as well. But synthetics are really the material of choice for these flies.

Examples of this type of fly include those shown above. Carry them in sizes from tiny to huge.

A gaggle of Merkins.

4. Crabs. Redfish love crabs, and they eat all kinds- swimming crabs, mud crabs, fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs, and more. You need a few faux crabs in your fly box.

My own favorite redfish crab pattern is the Merkin in size four. As a rule redfish crabs don’t need to be terribly realistic, only suggestive, and most should sink like they mean it.

A Seaducer, above, and a Slider, below. They’re very similar flies.

5. Shrimp Flies. Shrimp flies are something like crab flies in that there are lots of patterns. I use two. One was developed by Homer Rhodes in the 1930’s and was called the Homer Rhodes Shrimp Fly. Most folks nowadays call it a Seaducer. The other is a Slider, my take on Tim Borski’s well-known pattern.

The bunny leech or bunny booger, a deadly fly.

6. The Bunny Leech. Although this simple tie looks like nothing in particular, it has dynamite action when in the water and suggests a wide variety of redfish foods. I usually tie these in only sizes 2, always with 1/50th ounce lead eyes. My favorite colors is black.

This mullet imitation is made with sheep’s wool.

7. Woolhead Mullet. These are time consuming to make and difficult to cast. Why carry them? When the fish are keying on mullet nothing else will do.

You can tie these in any size you like, as mullet do get large. When this fly gets large, though, casting it becomes nightmarish. I carry these in sizes 2 and 1, in gray and in white.

“Attractor” Flies
Sometimes the water is deep. Sometimes it’s dirty. Sometimes there are clouds, or wind. And sometimes you have a combination of these factors, factors that prevent you from sight fishing. So you need some flies that call the fish to them by one means or another. We call these attractor patterns.

Rattle Rousers, weighted and not.

8. Rattle Rouser. These are bucktail streamers tied hook point up on a long shank hook. They can be unweighted or tied with lead eyes, as you prefer. It’s a good idea to carry some both ways. Tied underneath the hook is an epoxy coated, braided Mylar tube, inside of which a plastic or glass worm rattle is inserted.

As you strip the fly the rattle makes an audible clicking sound, which attracts the attention of the fish. When you need it there is no substitute.

Jim Dupre’s Spoonfly.

9. Dupre Spoonfly. These look like miniature Johnson Minnows, and work much the same way. A curved Mylar sheet coated with epoxy, Dupre’s invention casts easily, hits the water lightly, tends to not twist your line, and is extremely effective. I’m not sure if the fish find it by vibration, flash, or both, but they certainly do find it.

My version of Gartside’s Gurgler.

10. Gurglers. Surface flies are usually not the best choice for redfish. However, as an attractor pattern when sight fishing conditions are poor they can be outstanding. The strikes are so exciting that a few less seems like a small price to pay.

These ten flies will produce redfish for you no matter where you may find yourself, no matter what the conditions may be. As an added incentive to carrying these flies, they will also work on a variety of other fish, including snook, tarpon, seatrout and weakfish, striped bass, bluefish, and more. Whether you tie your own or purchase them ready to use, these flies will put fish on your line anywhere, anytime. Try them and see.

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

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Filed Under: Fishing Tips, Flies and Fly Tying, opinion · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kayak Redfishing This Week- Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report

November 15, 2011 by ·

The Indian River-Mosquito Lagoon Fishing Report from Spotted Tail 11/15/11

The gauge was at 1.5 all last week. I like it at 0.5 or lower, especially for paddle fishing. It has dropped the past couple days, though- good news!

Why paddle all week? I had a kayak charter on Friday. Scouting was needed. Besides, I really like paddling.

Wednesday found me at one of my favorite paddle spots on the Indian River Lagoon. Of course the water was too high. That’s been a recurring theme. The water was also very dark. I lost sight of the paddle blade about halfway down. And it was windy, out of the north. Then just to complete the picture, it got overcast.

In spite of all that there were fish blowing up along the shoreline.

I couldn’t see them, even when I tried wading. They kept spooking off of me. After changing flies five times I finally had one eat on a Mosquito Lagoon Special. I was so surprised I pooched it. That was the extent of my catching.

Thursday found me at a different spot on the IRL. The water was still high and dirty but the wind was less, and it was gloriously sunny. The bird life was rich and varied, and there were loads of mullet around. But in three hours of paddling I saw zero fish, although I ran over two. Didn’t even make a cast.

My trip Friday was an afternoon half day. A front came through Thursday night, dropping the water temperature to 67 from 71, not a good thing. The wind was blowing 20 out of the north. The water level dropped to 1.3, a little lower but still too high. At least the sun was out!

When I left the house I still didn’t know where we were going to fish. We (Patrick Gallagher, a fine Irish-American lad) ended up launching at Eddy Creek, fishing the north side. The water was very green and ridiculously high. I wondered after we got there if the wind hadn’t piled up the water at the south end of the lagoon. If so I certainly erred going there.

We rounded the point and fought the wind up into Galinipper Basin. We had a nice lee shoreline at the north end. Patrick was tossing a Johnson Minnow, mostly catching grass. We saw a minnow skip and he dropped the spoon there, I mean right now. A fish bit and he pulled in a nice flounder. It was the only fish (other than mullet) that we saw, and we were out until sunset.

Saturday I was part of a two boat trip with Capt. John Turcot. We picked up our anglers at 9AM at JB’s Fish Camp, giving the air a chance to warm first.

My anglers were Nadim and Terry. As their daughter says, “My dad is from Iraq and my mom’s from Arkansas!” Needless to say it was an interesting and entertaining day. They were a wonderful couple.

The weather was outstanding. We began searching shorelines and lo and behold- there were redfish working them. Our first was a little 12 inch rat, caught on a piece of mullet, as were all of our fish.

Shortly, Nadim hooked an in-the-slot red. Unfortunately for the fish, it never made it out of my boat alive.

Nadim the engineer with his redfish dinner on the fin.

Terry’s red came into the boat a while later. It joined Nadim’s fish in my cooler.

The second half of the redfish dinner, this one served up by Terry.

Once Terry realized that she couldn’t keep any more fish, she didn’t want to fish any more. I was able to use almost an hour of our time to scout for the next day’s trip.

When I cleaned the fish one of them had an empty stomach. The other had a fairly large (for the size of the fish that is) blue crab in it.

When I washed the boat I also washed the cooler. I forgot to put it back in the van and left it at the car wash. Dang!

John Turcot and his family could use some prayers for those of you who have some to spare.

Sunday morning I met Joseph Modrano, an angler from Seattle, at River Breeze. We mounted up on the Mitzi and went forth seeking the elusive red drum. Again, the weather was outstanding.

We fished about a half dozen spots over the course of the day. The water at the north end of the lagoon is way cleaner than at the south end, and actually looks just like it’s supposed to in many places. We found fish everywhere we looked except for one spot.

Joseph battles and photographs at the same time. And people say men can't multitask.

Again, all the fish we caught were in the slot, actually, towards the lower end. We’re not seeing six and eight pound fish. I don’t mind the smaller fish, heck, it’s way better than it had been! But I want to find some bigger fish too.

Joseph Modrano. Redfish. A good combination.

I was also encouraged to see quite a few seatrout. They took a severe beating in that winter freeze a couple years ago. It’s good to see some decent ones up on the flats.

Modrano used a Johnson Silver Minnow all day. He was pretty darn good with it, and he had never been sight fishing before. We pretty much had shots all day long, putting four or five fish in the boat. All managed to make it out alive.

Monday I had the pleasure of fishing Capt. Chris Myers, one of my favorite people to fish with. We launched at River Breeze and fished north of Georges Bar. Again the weather was superb. The water had dropped a few more inches, we found lots of clean water, and saw good numbers of fish all day long. We actually caught several redfish while using those dangfangled fly poles, Myers with a black Redfish Worm and me with a small (#4) tan crabby, shrimpy looking thing.

In the afternoon after the breeze kicked in Myers switched to a spin pole and proceeded to get a few more using a three inch DOA Shrimp. It was an outstanding day.

The week started kind of slow but picked up a good head of steam. The water is slowly dropping, clean water is available, and there are fish around. They are eating. It’s an encouraging trend. I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.

Embrace simplicity.

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- go fishing!

John Kumiski
http://www.spottedtail.com/

All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.

 

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Filed Under: Fishing Reports, Paddle Fishing Florida · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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